a photographer's world unveiled

This will be made of words, no images…

No, I haven’s lost my inspiration. And, yes, you will have more photos coming up on the next blog post. I just felt like writing a bit more about my unbelievable experience here in the southern belt of America today.

It’s still not officially a month that Chris and I took off from Kill Devils Hill in North Carolina and embarked in what would be, for me at least, a compelling and rewarding experience of self-growth in my photography and self-employed freelancer skills.

It was in December of 2008 that I picked up my brand new Canon 5D for the first time. I had bought it with my very first paycheck from my Manager of Communication job at the start-up online magazine Culture11 (which shortly after died for lack of funding due to the economical crisis). Two weeks later, I was so excited about my new toy, I spent hours shooting the streets of Washington D.C. hoping to capture a glimpse of the excitement for the newly elected President.

But something was not quite there yet.

At that time, especially Jan. 19, 2009, my camera was still an extraneous object I would look into and snap a still that would later be posted on my Blog or hanged on a wall in the Newseum as part of the FotoWeek D.C. special on the Presidential Inauguration. Back then, I thought my camera was taking away my time and my attention from things around me. I actually felt having it with me was forbidding me to live the events to the fullest because I was always busy trying to get the best shot I could and not really paying attention to the whole meaning of what I was indeed shooting.

Well, in New Orleans I changed my mind. No matter where I go, my camera comes with me and it’s no longer just an assets, a bulky piece of equipment I HAVE to carry along, but my third arm. And what I have discovered is that no matter where I am, parties, Jazz soirees, football parades or news events, I can still enjoy what I see while I shoot simply because my major enjoyment is to be behind the camera and create unique images of what I see. As clique as it may sound, I actually feel rather naked without it nowadays.

Of course, since I have moved here, there has been on days and off days. Days in which I rather sleep longer and not catch the nice morning light and days in which I could care less of the night life and the dancing masquerades. But there have also been days when I thought I could not shoot at all because I was not getting the right angles and light and speed and then my rechargeable batteries where too slow to recycle to make my flash function properly, yet those days I got my best material and actually sold it to a photo agency or two.

I guess I just wanted to underline, no matter what I covered, how little sleep I got the night before and how little (if any) I get paid to do what I do here, there isn’t one day that goes by, I am not in love with being a photojournalist. Of course been in New Orleans in such a perfect time when the Saints won their first Super Bowl ever and the Carnival celebrations took a whole different meaning from the traditional one, has for sure helped make the experience that much more exciting and full of more interesting stories/parades to cover.

But, what I am trying to say is that, no matter where I will go to take photos from now on, I will never be bored of doing it. Of course the selling part still remains very challenging and often upsetting when the paycheck makes it in the mail months past your rent is due, but as long as there is passion and enthusiasm for what I do, I’ll just keep on clicking away. And this way, the day I will be offered a job in a news wire service and I will actually get paid consistently to take photos may come sooner rather than later.

Let my experience in New Orleans be the one that opens my biggest door to the photography world…